Suicide Bulwark

I always enjoyed playing a support/healing build combo for my Engi. It got nerfed years ago... it hurt... I really missed my big aoe healing bombs that I could drop behind me with no cool down... but finally I adapted and made it work again... switched to Scrapper when it came out & dealt with the same stuff... ya know the drill. Well, after another past update making me think the play style I liked was gone again, I found a way to make it more than viable and a lot of fun. But now... why did they have to change the Bulwark Gyro to be a suicide skill? I can no longer be a Healer if I am dead from all the damage I’m taking (and heals I’m lacking) whether I’m solo or in a group. It was so good, and now it’s useless. Either this gyro was the breaking point of making her a beast or something else must’ve changed too, because now my engi’s power, toughness, and healing sucks and feels like nothing makes a dent. Apparently, they removed Rapid Regeneration. Why sacrifice something already existent that’s so simple and effective for something unnecessary and messy like barriers? They say it’s supposed to make us tankier but it just makes me feel far squishier. I really dislike the function of barriers and how psychologically it messes with me (the way it looks in the vitality sphere). I don’t understand why anyone could think these changes were a good idea. Please change it back ;_; Don’t try to fix what’s not broken in PvE just because it’s unbalanced in PvP or WvW. Separate the balances. They’re completely different fields.

Thanks...

In regards to Bulwark-Gyro killing the player I recommend using Hammer 4 to block the incoming damage.However regarding the healing i can say, that from personal experience it is rather easy to outheal ( or at least heal roughly the same as ) both Firebrands and Support Tempest. But then again I do not know what kind of build you are playing exactly.

Have either of you used support scrapper in raids?

@Rifton.7346 said:In regards to Bulwark-Gyro killing the player I recommend using Hammer 4 to block the incoming damage.

Pardon? All the damage transferred to you is unavoidable except for Invulnerability

@Chaith.8256 said:

@Rifton.7346 said:In regards to Bulwark-Gyro killing the player I recommend using Hammer 4 to block the incoming damage.

Is this seriously true? Bruh. Damage dampener even hits through invuln, such useless skills.

No, Bulwark transferred damage can be blocked. I see this every day in WvW. Hammer-4 and Shield-5 are working well and you can survive standing in a 40 zerg while bulwark is on.I think it can't be evaded, though. Also not sure, if protection or vuln on you affect it.But without a block in a WvW-zerg it kills you most of the time.

Nice to see another large-scale suicide skill, though. ^^(Following numbers are worst-case with all targets = hits against retaliations)

Holo-overheat without trait: toolbelt/kit/forge lockout + 8k dmg.Prime Light Beam: 6 fields, 10 pulses, 5 targets = 6k dmg/s, 60k in total retaliationFlamethrower-1: 15 attacks/s =3k dmg/s per retaliationGrenade-kit: 15 attacks = 3k dmg for every throw (6k for barrage) retaliationBulwark: redirect ~30% incoming damage of 5 players to you

I think this fits nicely to some support skills:A.E.D: only really heals and cleanses when you die within 8s (traited)Medikit-1 and -2: heals everyone except youEG-3: cleanses everyone except youThrow-U: AoE stunbreaker, but can not be used while stunned.

And of course my favorite rune:Alturism+Mortar: draw one condition from 5 allies to you every second (got up to 120 stacks burning once).

@Dediggefedde.4961 said:

Holo-overheat without trait: toolbelt/kit/forge lockout + 8k dmg.Prime Light Beam: 6 fields, 10 pulses, 5 targets = 6k dmg/s, 60k in total retaliationFlamethrower-1: 15 attacks/s =3k dmg/s per retaliationGrenade-kit: 15 attacks = 3k dmg for every throw (6k for barrage) retaliationBulwark: redirect ~30% incoming damage of 5 players to you

And of course my favorite rune:Alturism+Mortar: draw one condition from 5 allies to you every second (got up to 120 stacks burning once).

Flamethrower has 3 targets cap, and 15*250*3 is closer to 11k.

@Samug.6512 said:Flamethrower has 3 targets cap, and 15*250*3 is closer to 11k.

Flamethrower hits 3 people 5 times per second.So, 5 times 3 targets 200 ret-dmg is 3k dmg, right? ^^

@Dediggefedde.4961 said:

@Samug.6512 said:Flamethrower has 3 targets cap, and 15*250*3 is closer to 11k.

Ah, yes, my bad. Only 3k dmg/s done to yourself instead of 11k, so that's fine /s

How about runes of sanctuary? Does the incoming barrier on that from the self heals give you more time with bulwark active?

@Chaith.8256 said:

@Rifton.7346 said:In regards to Bulwark-Gyro killing the player I recommend using Hammer 4 to block the incoming damage.

Blocking through Hammer 4 or Shield 5 works.

@Rifton.7346 said:

@Chaith.8256 said:

@Rifton.7346 said:In regards to Bulwark-Gyro killing the player I recommend using Hammer 4 to block the incoming damage.

That's mindboggling as to the logic behind that mechanic but very useful to know.

We do it all the time in WvW fights.

Which weapon setup is more useful for support scrapper since both (hammer and shield) have a blocking skill? I like the shield idea (both 4 and 5 are great) but pistol on the other hand is super worthless. :/

I favour hammer.Because hammer 2 (whirlfinisher and i love to whirl through my combofields for some extra condiremoves or heal. Granted Comboprojectiles are not nearly as nice as blasts but a nice addition to them) and hammer 3 ( somewhat nice as a movement skill /extra dodge) and hammer 5 (as stun) apart from hammer 4.It just feels more useful with 4 "valid" skills compared to the 2 from shield.

@BrokenGlass.9356 said:Have either of you used support scrapper in raids?

I actually haven’t done any raids yet, I’m sorry to say. Trying to get set up to start getting into them though. But gosh, I don’t even wanna imagine bringing Scrapper in now with the state it’s in. shivers

@nomak.8693 said:Which weapon setup is more useful for support scrapper since both (hammer and shield) have a blocking skill? I like the shield idea (both 4 and 5 are great) but pistol on the other hand is super worthless. :/

In WvW zergs as a supporter I use shield. It gives protection with overshield and blast-finishers are more useful as support. Pistol is mostly used to tag. 3 is nice for blind.When I go zerg-power-shredder, I use hammer. The evade-frame while stunning (in lightning-field), together with the damage of 1&2 has great synergy with that build.

Note that jump-finishers (hammer-3) give solo-superspeed while blast finishers (shield-4) give AoE-Superspeed.In organized squads is also better to use 3 blast-finishers in your smoke-field, so 3 groups per scrapper can be stealthed fully (2 blasting players each in group 2 and 3, only scrapper blasting in group 1). A combo field is limited to 5 people doing finishers.